eRepublik Launches

Republik Labs has announced the public availability of its first massively multiplayer online strategy game. The game, called eRepublik, is set in a mirror world where players, referred to as citizens, join in local and national politics, set economic policy, start businesses and wage wars with other countries. Version 1.0 offers an improved war module that lets citizens stage resistance wars, more sophisticated political and economic systems, and management of natural resources. Version 1.0 is available free of charge with no software to download.

“A lot of companies think they are going to take over the world; eRepublik allows you to, virtually,” said Carla Thompson, senior analyst of Guidewire Group. “eRepublik has combined our favorite aspects of strategy games like Risk and Civilization and placed them in the social context of a massive multiplayer game. Countries rise and fall as they wage war, allocate resources and fund economies. It will be interesting to watch how the game resonates with players around the world and how those users will influence the evolution of a truly intriguing concept.”

“Whether it’s running a company or running a country, everyone has had the thought ‘I could do that better’,” said Alexis Bonte, CEO of eRepublik. “eRepublik allows people to pursue their dreams of dominating the world, feeding the hungry or creating peace in the Middle East. It’s all possible in eRepublik.”

The game is designed to take just 15 minutes per day to maintain an active citizen. eRepublik estimates that over 90% of the content in the game has been created by citizens, including thousands of newspapers, hundreds of political parties, and more than 2,900 companies that employ over 23,000 citizens. Citizens also provide national defense as soldiers and set foreign policy as presidents, congressmen and leaders of political parties.

Version 1.0 of the game builds on popular features including:

Resistance wars – countries that have been taken over or occupied can now stage resistance wars against the aggressing country Raw materials – countries will now be able to exploit and trade raw materials such as oil, wood, grain and diamonds Embargoes – presidents will be able to set economic embargoes against countries Minimized corruption – a new system that reduces the ability of presidents to steal the assets of countries New tools for Congress – ability to propose and debate laws and impeach the president Improved media section – a completely new media section that allows media owners to better reach their subscribers

Version 1.0 of eRepublik is available free of charge with no software to download. Head over to the site below for more information.